Civil Disobedience

I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that i got a ticket for no front plate the same day I got laid off.  I think this is the stupidest law ever, and I refuse to obey it.  Partially because I don’t want to devalue my car by punching holes in the bumper, partly because I think it looks terrible, and partly because I don’t think it serves any purpose other than revenue generation (more on that in a minute).  Most cops don’t even care to enforce it and I’ve been pulled over many times and I have not gotten a ticket or even a warning for it until now.

So the ticket is $154!  But if you go get it taken care of within 21 days they will dismiss it.  Now living in a big city, the government officials aren’t going to get out of their little bulletproof plexiglass fishbowls and go inspect your car.  This I know.  So you have to provide some sort of proof that you have indeed installed the font plate on the car.  All I did to get this dismissed was put suction cups on the plate,  stick it to my bumper, and take a cell phone picture of it.  That’s it.  I even did it while parked in front of the courthouse. Now here’s where things get annoying.

Once inside the courthouse, armed only with my ticket and cell phone pic, the fun began.  Step one, I wait in line.  Talk to lady at counter, showed her the ticket.  She looked annoyed and typed a lot into the computer.  Soon the printer started spitting out my next instructions and I’m told by the angry lady to take all the paperwork and go up to the third floor to see the judge.  Upon arriving at the ‘courtroom’ (really just an empty room full of old folding chairs and tables)  I handed my paperwork over to the bailiff and was instructed to sit.  After sitting for exactly 3 seconds (I was the only one there) I was called up to the ‘Jr. DA’ or something similar.  She reviewed my case and looked at my cell phone picture.  Apparently that was enough proof for her and she told me she’d recommended that the judge dismiss the case based on compliance (HA!).  Then I’m told to go sit again and just as my butt hits the seat the judge calls me up.  As expected, he dismissed the case and I’m done!  Right?  Wrong.  Now I had to pay an administrative fee of $10.  Then I waited in another line and met another angry woman in a fishbowl who scowled at my paperwork, approved it,  then sent me to another angry lady in the next fishbowl down.  Finally she’s willing to take my money and give me a receipt saying my case is dismissed.  All told, it took maybe an hour of my time.

Now lets look at all the personnel involved in this transaction:

-Cops (two in the car that pulled me over, and two in the second car that pulled up to make sure the first could handle this tough call, and at least three when I went through security at the courthouse)

-Angry ladies in fishbowls = 3

-Bailiffs = 3

-Judge

-’Jr.DA’

So we’ve got a minimum of 15 government employees that attempted to enforce a $154 ticket and ended up getting $10.  These are our tax dollars at work.

The fact that it was so easy to thwart the system also shows me that the law is not in place to ensure that the car has proper registration, it’s there for revenue generation.  It’s not as easy to dismiss a ticket for no rear plate, or no inspection sticker, or no front registration sticker.  All of those laws make sense to me and are enforced in a manner in which indicates their necessity.

When I was done, I took the plate off and drove home. Oh, and I didn’t have enough change for the parking meter, so I didn’t pay that either.

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